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Geotextiles and Geomembranes 25 (2007) 336345 www.elsevier.com/locate/geotexmem

Inection point method for predicting settlement of PVD improved soft clay under embankments
A.K. Sinha, Vasant G. Havanagi, Sudhir Mathur
Geotechnical Engineering Division, Central Road Research Institute, DelhiMathura Road, New Delhi 110020, India Received 8 June 2006; received in revised form 23 March 2007; accepted 4 April 2007 Available online 5 June 2007

Abstract Prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) are being used to accelerate the consolidation of subsoil for construction of high embankments on soft ground. The construction is carried out in stages and the height of each stage construction depends on gain in strength of soft subsoil and target factor of safety. The inection point method for estimating the degree of consolidation for vertical drainage has previously been published. The degree of consolidation was estimated to be 70% at the inection point. After 70% consolidation, the rate of consolidation reduces to a minimum value and it is economical and technically feasible to allow the second-stage loading. Additional load at this stage would ensure increase in shear strength of the subsoil. In this paper, the authors have extended the procedure of inection point method for vertical drainage to a three-dimensional drainage when PVDs are adopted for subsoil improvement. Theoretical graphs have been developed which can estimate the percent consolidation at inection point (% Ui) for different subsoil thickness, drain spacing ratios and Cr/Cv ratios. Different factors viz. smear, drain spacing, depth of clay thickness and well resistance were also considered in the analysis. The degree of consolidation at inection point is observed in the range of 6178%. The inection point method has been applied to a settlement data from a case history of two sites and the estimated percent consolidation at inection point has been compared with the values predicted from developed theoretical graphs. The total primary settlement estimated from inection point has been compared with that of Asaoka method, which is widely used in the eld. It is concluded that inection point method has the potential for eld application and provides an alternate method for estimating of total settlement in eld applications using PVDs and surcharge, and to determine the appropriate required waiting period for stage loading. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Inection point; Degree of consolidation; Prefabricated vertical band drain (PVD); Soft clay; Settlement; Soil improvement

1. Introduction The use of vertical drains and surcharge to accelerate the consolidation of thick deposits of soft clay for soil improvement is well established and there have been a number of recent papers of the topic (Shen et al., 2005; Chu et al., 2006; Abuel-Naga et al., 2006). The estimation of total primary settlement is very essential to arrive at actual degree of consolidation. The consolidation of subsoil is monitored by peizometers, settlement gauges, magnetic plates and inclinometers. The increase in subsoil strength is estimated by carrying out vane shear and static cone
Corresponding author. Tel.: +091 011 26842612; fax: +091 011 26845943. E-mail address: sinha.crri@nic.in (A.K. Sinha).

penetration tests before and after the surcharge loading. The theoretical curve between degree of consolidation (Uv) and time factor (Tv) obtained from the one-dimensional consolidation theory has been interpreted in different ways to estimate the degree of consolidation. Casagrande and Fadum (1940) used the theoretical curve between Uv and log Tv to estimate the time for 50% and 100% consolidation. The method devised by Taylor (1948) p utilized the theoretical relationship between Uv and T v for estimation of time for 90% consolidation. Sridharan and Rao (1981) estimated degree of consolidation, Uv by rectangular hyperbola tting method. Pandian et al. (1992) estimated the degree of consolidation from the bilinear plot in the form of log (Uv/Tv) versus log Tv. Cour (1971), Robinson (1997) and Mesri et al. (1999) have advocated the inection point method for estimating the time for 70% consolidation.

0266-1144/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.geotexmem.2007.04.004

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Nomenclature b Cc Cr Cu Cv d ds De e0 F h H kr k0r width of PVD compression index coefcient of consolidation in radial direction undrained shear strength of subsoil coefcient of consolidation in vertical direction equivalent diameter of PVD/Geodrain diameter of smear zone effective drain spacing initial void ratio factor of safety safe height of embankment over soft subsoil thickness of clay layer coefcient of permeability in radial direction coefcient of permeability in smear zone (radial direction) kv coefcient of permeability in vertical direction l length of PVD Meld dSt/dlog t of eld settlement curve mr coefcient of volume change in radial direction Mr dU/dlog Tr Mtheoretical dU/dlog Tr of theoretical curve Mv dU/dlog Tv n drain spacing ratio De/d Nc Terzaghis bearing capacity factor Ps drain spacing for a square pattern Pt drain spacing for a triangular pattern

qw R2 s St S t 1 ST Sult t tb tw Tr Tv U Ui Ur Uv z

discharge capacity of PVD coefcient of regression smear ratio, ds/d settlement at time t settlement at time t1 total expected settlement in the eld ultimate primary settlement time thickness of PVD waiting period in days time factor in radial direction time factor in vertical direction degree of Consolidation degree of Consolidation at inection point degree of Consolidation in radial direction degree of Consolidation in vertical direction distance from the top boundary

Greek symbols g gd gw m Ds s0v s0 density of subsoil dry density of embankment material density of water Poisson ratio of soil incremental over burden pressure effective vertical stress effective over burden pressure

All these methods are based on one-dimensional consolidation without any consideration to radial or three-dimensional consolidation. The signicant aspect for embankment construction on soft soil is to reduce the time required for consolidation of soft ground. For this purpose, prefabricated vertical band drains (PVDs) are often used to accelerate the consolidation of soft soils (e.g. Hansbo, 1979, 2005; Holtz, 1987; Bergado et al., 1990, 1993a, b, 1996; Chai et al., 2001; Bo et al., 2003, 2005; Indraratna et al., 2005). The performance of vertical drain is typically evaluated using mathematical models. Analytical solutions developed by Barron (1948) and Hansbo (1981) are widely used. Bergado et al. (1991) studied smear effects due to installation of PVDs in the laboratory using special equipments and in the eld using a full-scale test embankment. Li and Rowe (2001) examined the combined effect of vertical drains and geosynthetic reinforcement on the performance of embankment on soft clays. Chu et al. (2004) discussed different factors affecting the performance of vertical drains such as quality of drain, selection of soil parameters, smear effect and the type of mandrel used. Leo (2004) estimated the degree of consolidation after considering the well resistance and smear effect. Walker and Indaratana (2006) observed that permeability reduces parabolically towards vertical drain in the smear zone. Ladd (1991) and Bergado et al. (2002)

studied and analyzed the stability and gain in strength of subsoil due to surcharge loading in multi stage construction. Nicholson and Jardine (1981) carried out multistage loading analysis based on the assumption that consolidated undrained strength (Cu) would grow in proportion to their maximum effective vertical stress (s0v ). An overall ratio (Cu/(s0v ) of 0.25 was selected after considering the likely effects of change to plain strain condition, anistrophy and strain rate dependence. Ladd and Foot (1974) have given SHANSEP (stress history and normalized soil engineering properties) procedures for estimation of in situ undrained strength. Shibata and Sekiguchi (1981) tentatively suggested that load on embankment should be stopped when lateral deformability factor, i.e. ratio of load increment and horizontal incremental displacement reduces to around 200 kN/m3. The estimation of degree of consolidation or ultimate settlement of the soft clay is signicant in multistage construction. This can be estimated by eld instrumentation with the use of settlement gauges and piezometers. The eld settlement can be analyzed by different methods to predict the ultimate settlement of the soft soil from the time of initial installation. Asaoka (1978) has suggested a procedure modied for application to consolidation problems with vertical drains using Barron (1948) solution for pure radial drainage. Tan (1994) proposed hyperbolic

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tting methods to estimate the total settlement due to consolidation with combined vertical and radial ow which occur when vertical drains are used to speed up consolidation. The application of both Asaoka and hyperbolic methods for the assessment of degree of consolidation of soft clays with PVDs in land reclamation projects have been described by Bo et al. (2003) and Arulrajah et al. (2004). The prediction of ultimate settlement by Asaoka method is affected by period of assessment after surcharge placement as well as by the time interval used for the assessment. At small intervals, it is difcult to assess the best-t line through the data points. A larger time interval would require a long-term instrumentation monitoring program in order to assess the best-t line through the data points. The prediction of ultimate settlement by hyperbolic method is affected by period of assessment after surcharge placement. In the inection point method, as proposed by the authors, overcome these difculties by plotting time on logarithmic scale and slope of U-log Tr on linear scale. The percent consolidation at inection point (% Ui) is evaluated at different ratios of coefcient of radial drainage (Cr) and coefcient of vertical drainage (Cv). The ratio ranged between 1 and 3. The estimated degree of consolidation is compared with that evaluated from the eld settlement data from two sites of a case history. 2. Inection point method for vertical drainage By plotting the Terzaghis theoretical timesettlement curve in semi logarithmic coordinates U% versus log Tv, it is observed that the curve has an inection point corresponding to Tv 0.405 and Ui 70%. Cour (1971) located the inection point for the real time curve and xed the coordinate of inection point either by visualization or where the absolute value of the tangent to the time curve reaches to the maximum as shown in Fig. 1. Robinson (1997) provided an alternative procedure for location of inection point. The slope of the curve, i.e. Mv dU/ dlog Tv, is plotted against log Tv. In this, dU/dlog Tv is the

0.8 0.7 Mv = dU/d log Tv 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0.001 0.01 0.1 Time factor, Tv 1 10 Inflection point (0.4, 0.69)

Fig. 2. Mvlog Tv curve showing inection point (after Robinson, 1997).

ratio of change in degree of consolidation with corresponding change in log Tv. The observed maximum slope of the curve is considered as inection point as shown in Fig. 2. Corresponding to this inection point, the degree of consolidation is read from Fig. 1. The observed degree of consolidation is 70% similar to the value estimated by Cour (1971). But these methods are applicable to only onedimensional vertical drainage and considering the wide applications of PVDs for soft soil improvement, authors have extended this theory to a three-dimensional drainage as discussed in Section 3. 3. Analytical approach of inection point method in PVD-improved subsoil The PVDs has been extensively used in the country, as some of the roads constructed under national highway development program (NHDP) run over difcult soft subsoils. In this program, the embankment is constructed in stages and observations of different instruments, viz. settlement gauges, piezometers and inclinometers are recorded over the construction period. For each stage loading, 90% degree of consolidation was achieved as per IS 15284 (Part 2, 2004). The height of each stage construction is evaluated based on improvement of shear strength of subsoil and to achieve a factor of safety of 1.25. But it is technically feasible and economical to restrict the waiting period for each stage loading to degree of consolidation at inection point. The procedure of extension of inection point method for a three-dimensional drainage as in PVDs application for subsoil improvement has been discussed below. The consolidation process in soils of low permeability accelerated by vertical drains can be evaluated by Carrillo (1942) and Barron (1948) solution. According to Hansbo (1981), considering the effect of smear and well resistance factors on the combined degree of consolidation U, due to vertical drainage Uv and radial drainage Ur is given by U 1 1 U v 1 U r . (1)

Time factor, Tv 0.001 0 Degree of consolidation, U% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Fig. 1. Theoretical Ulog Tv curve (after Cour, 1971).

0.01

0.1

10

Inflection Point

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The vertical degree of consolidation Uv (t), is given by r 4 Tv U v t (2) ; as U v to60% p (Atkinson and Eldred, 1981). The time factor (Tv) for vertical drainage is Cvt Tv 2 , (3) H where H is the thickness of clay layer, t is time, Cv is coefcient of consolidation in the vertical direction. The radial degree of consolidation Ur is given by   8T r U r t 1 exp . (4) m The time factor (Tr) for radial drainage is Tr Crt . D2 e (5)

is then plotted against log Tr. The maximum slope of this curve is the inection point. The degree of consolidation corresponding to this inection point is noted. Theoretical

a
80 Cr /Cv = 1, ds /d = 2 H=5m H=10m H=15m 70 Ui (%) H=20m

60

50 0 20 40 n = De /d 60 80

De is the effective drain spacing, Cr is coefcient of consolidation in the radial direction k0 (6) C r r gw , mr   3 kr 2l 2 k r m ln n 0 1 ln s p 4 kr 3qw F n F s F w; 7 where Fn is the drain spacing factor, n De/d is drain spacing ratio, De is 1.13Ps (drain spacing for a square pattern), De is 1.05Pt (drain spacing for a triangular pattern), Fs is smear factor where, s is ds/d smear ratio, ds is diameter of smear zone, d 2(b+tb)/p is equivalent diameter of PVD (Hansbo, 1981), tb is thickness of PVD, kr is coefcient of permeability in radial direction, k0r is coefcient of permeability in smear zone (radial direction), mr is coefcient of volume change in radial direction, Fw is well resistance factor, qw 5 krl2 (Bo, 2004), qw is discharge capacity of PVD, l is length of PVD, k0r kv 1 109 m/s (Bergado et al., 1991; Chu et al., 2002), kr/kv 3 Eqs. (1)(7) could be used for determining the theoretical timesettlement curve for any practical problem where PVDs have been used for subsoil improvement. The degree of consolidation at inection point depends on depth of subsoil H, the values of Cv and Cr, size and spacing of PVDs, drain inuence diameter (De), and smear ratio which depends on pattern of laying of PVD. Detailed theoretical analysis has been carried out to determine the variation of degree of consolidation at inection point with drain spacing ratio (n De/d) for different depths of soft soil. Analysis was carried out by assuming dimension of PVD as 100 mm 4 mm, smear ratio (s 2), well resistance factor and for different drain spacing. The analysis has been carried out for a square pattern of laying of PVD and different Cr/Cv ratios (1, 2 and 3). The degree of consolidation (U) was estimated from Eq. (1) for different time periods (t) and corresponding Tr values. The slope of the curve, i.e. Mtheoretical dU/dlog Tr,

b
80 Cr /Cv = 2, ds /d = 2 H=5m H=10m H=15m 70 Ui (%) H=20m

60

50

10

20

30

40 n = De /d

50

60

70

80

c
80 Cr /Cv = 3, ds /d = 2 H=5m H=10m 70 Ui (%) H=15m H=20m

60

50 0 10 20 30 40 n = De /d
Fig. 3. (a) Variation of degree of consolidation at inection point (% Ui) with drain spacing ratio (n) for different subsoil thickness and Cr/Cv 1. (b) Variation of degree of consolidation at inection point (% Ui) with drain spacing ratio (n) for different subsoil thickness and Cr/Cv 2. (c) Variation of degree of consolidation at inection point (% Ui) with drain spacing ratio (n) for different subsoil thickness and Cr/Cv 3.

50

60

70

80

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graphs have been developed which can estimate the degree of consolidation at inection point (Ui) for different subsoil thickness, drain and soil parameters as shown in Figs. 3ac. The applicability of these graphs was checked by determining the degree of consolidation at inection point from the actual eld settlement data as discussed in Section 4. 4. Practical approach of inection point method to a case history To authenticate the validity of the proposed method, data from two sites of a case history were collected. A total of 645 hectare of land was reclaimed for the construction of the Changi international airport in the Republic of Singapore in the year 19761978 (Tan, 1994). Different types of vertical drains viz. Sand drains and Geodrains were used to treat the underlying marine clays to minimize the differential settlement and to avoid costly maintenance of the airport runways, taxiways and parking aprons. Consolidation of subsoil was achieved by laying band drains in square pattern at different spacing. About 5 m surcharge was used for consolidation of soft subsoil. Data regarding band drain and soil characteristics for two sites is given in Table 1. Instrumentation was carried out to observe the subsoil performance. Magnetic settlement gauges were installed to record the time-dependent settlements. Considering the drain dimensions and spacing, soil data and Cr/Cv ratio, Fig. 3c was used to estimate the theoretical degree of consolidation at inection point. The theoretical values are observed to be 65.7% and 64.6%, respectively, for the two sites (Table 1). For the site 1, Geodrains are installed at 3.2 m spacing in square pattern and laid upto a depth of 20 m. The eld time (t)settlement (St) curve for the site 1 is shown in Fig. 4. The slope of the curve, i.e. Meld dSt/dlog t, is then plotted against log t as shown in Fig. 5. The time interval for plotting is taken as 10 days. The maximum slope of the best-tted curve is the inection point. The settlement corresponding to this inection point was then noted from Fig. 4. The degree of consolidation is then estimated by the ratio of this value and the total settlement estimated from Eq. (11). Similar type of analysis made for the site 2. For the site 2, Geodrains were installed at 2.1 m spacing in square pattern upto a depth of 25 m at the same area of Changi airport as site 1. The time settlement curve and the inection point for the same is shown in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. Table 2 compares the degree of consolidation at inection point (% Ui) determined theoretically with that determined from the

actual eld settlement data. The degree of consolidation calculated to be 68% and 64%, respectively, for sites 1 and 2. It is observed that the values determined by theoretical
Time, t days 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Fig. 4. TimeSettlement curve for site 1.

200

400

600

800

1000

Settlement (St), mm Mfield = dSt / dlog t

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 10 100 Time, t days

Fig. 5. Meldlog t curve for site 1.

Inflection point (400, 840)

1000

Time, t days 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400
Fig. 6. Timesettlement curve for site 2.

200

400

600

800

1000

Table 1 Predicted percent consolidation at inection point for different drain and soil parameters Site 1 2 Drain diameter d (m) 0.065 0.065 Drain spacing Ps (m) 3.2 2.1 De 1.13Ps 3.616 2.373 n De/d 55.6 36.5 H (m) 10 12.5 Cv (m2/year) 1 1 Cr (m2/year) 3 3 Ui (%) 65.7 64.6

Ui (%): Percent consolidation at inection point.

Settlement, (St) mm

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1800 1600 Mfield = dSt / dlog t 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 10 100 Time, t days
Fig. 7. Meldlog t curve for site 2.

1 Mtheoretical = dU/dlogTr Inflection point (370, 1250) 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0.01 Inflection point (0.56, 0.78)

1000

0.1 Tr

10

Fig. 8. Inection point from MtheoreticalTr curve for site 1. Table 2 Comparison of predicted and actual percent consolidation at inection point Site

1 Mtheoretical = dU/dlogTr 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0.01 Inflection poin (0.60, 0.80)

Total settlement from Cc (m) 1.02 1.45

Settlement at inection point (m) 0.69 0.92

Percent consolidation at inection point Predicted from theoretical curve 65.7 64.6 Actual from eld 68 64

1 2

Cc Compression index parameter.

and practical approach are comparable. However, it is observed that due to wide scatter in the settlement data, the best-tted second-order polynomial curve has regression coefcients (R2) of 0.33 and 0.51, respectively, for sites 1 and 2, respectively. This implies that the method of inection point needs to be applied to settlement data from more sites to authenticate the values obtained from theoretical approach. The inection point method was also used to estimate the total settlement and compared with that estimated from Asaoka method, widely used for prediction of ultimate settlement. This has been discussed in Section 5 and Section 6. 5. Estimation of total primary settlement by inection point method Considering the eld parameters for the two sites viz. dimension of band drain, drain spacing, depth of clay layers, Cr/Cv ratios, smear ratio and pattern of laying of PVD, the slope of the curve i.e. Mtheoretical dU/dlog Tr, is plotted against log Tr as discussed in Section 3. Mtheoretical is noted from the inection point as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The estimated values of Meld for the two sites (as discussed in Section 4) were then used to estimate the total primary settlement ST from Eq. (2). ST M field , M theoretical (8)

0.1 Tr

10

Fig. 9. Inection point from MtheoreticalTr curve for site 2.

where Meld is the maximum slope at inection point of dSt/dlog tlog t curve (Figs. 5 and 7), Mtheoretical is maximum slope at inection point of dU/dlog Trlog Tr curve (Figs. 8 and 9) ST 840 1077 mm 1:077 m 0:78 1250 1563 m 1:563 m 0:80 site 1,

ST

site 2.

6. Comparison of inection point method and Asaoka method Asaoka (1978) method, a graphical method, which is at present widely used for prediction of total settlement. The method is applied to the eld timesettlement data of the two sites for prediction of total settlement. Procedure for estimation of total settlement by Asaoka method for the two sites is shown in Figs. 10 and 11, respectively. The values obtained from the two methods have been compared as shown in Table 3. The total settlement estimated from inection point method varies in the range of +5%

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to +8% of total settlement estimated from Eq. (11). The variation of the same from Asoaka method was in the range of 8% to 10%.

estimated. The stepwise procedure for the same is given below. (1) Given the values of: Thickness of subsoil clay layer (H), Equivalent diameter of PVD (d), Effective drain spacing (De), Cr/Cv ratio, Smear ratio(s), Well resistance and drain spacing factor, the percent degree of consolidation at inection point (% Ui) is estimated using Figs. 3ac. (2) For a given parameter in step 1, draw the curve Mtheoretical versus log Tr on a semilogarithamic sheet. The maximum slope of this curve corresponds to inection point. The time factor Tr and maximum slope Mtheoretical corresponding to this inection point is noted. (3) The waiting period tw (for % Ui as determined in step 1) is then predicted corresponding to the estimated value of Tr (step 2) and drain inuence diameter, De using the formula tw De 2 T r . Cr (9)

7. Stepwise procedure for application of inection point method The inection point method can be applied to a specic eld problem. The method is very useful for estimating the degree of consolidation at inection point and corresponding waiting period for each stage loading. The total expected primary settlement in the eld can also be

1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0 200 400 800 600 St-1, (mm) 1000 1200 1400

Fig. 10. Application of Asaoka method for settlement data from site 1.

(4) From the instrumented section, the observed time (t)settlement (St) curve is plotted. The slope of the curve, i.e. Meld dSt/dlog t, is then plotted against log t. The value of Meld corresponding to inection point is then noted. (5) From the values of Mtheoretical (step 2) and Meld (step 4), the total expected primary settlement in the eld is estimated from the following equation: ST M field . M theoretical (10)

1400 1200 1000 St, (mm) 800 600 400 200 0 0 200 400 800 600 St-1 (mm) 1000 1200 1400

8. Solved example An embankment of 5 m height is to be constructed on a soft ground of clay layer thickness equal to 10 m. The undrained strength of subsoil is Cu 15 kN/m2, compression index Cc 0.8 and initial void ratio e0 2.1. The dry density (gd) of the embankment material is 18 kN/m3. The details of subsoil characteristics of the study are given in Fig. 12. Before construction of embankment, the subsoil strata is treated with a band drain. The width (b) and

Fig. 11. Application of Asaoka method for settlement data from site 2.

Table 3 Comparison of total settlement estimated from Asaoka and Inection point method Site Total primary settlement from Cc (m) 1.02 1.45 Predicted total eld settlement (m) Percent increase or decrease with respect to that evaluated from CC Asaoka method ()8 ()10 Inection point method (+)5 (+)8

Asaoka method 1 2 0.94 1.30

Inection point method 1.07 1.56

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1 Mtheoretical = dU/dlogTr 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0.01 Inflection point (0.50, 0.80)

Second stage 4.5m First stage

=15kN/m3 Cv = 1m2/year

Sand Filter 0.5m

0.1 Tr

10

10m

Cr = 3m2/year Band drains

Fig. 13. Inection point from MtheoreticalTr curve for solved example.

Fig. 12. Cross-sectional view of embankment for solved example.

thickness (tb) of band drain is 0.1 m and 0.004 m, respectively. The spacing of band drain is 2 m center to center in the square pattern. The water table is at the top of ground surface. Determine the degree of consolidation at inection point (% Ui) and corresponding waiting period (tw) and total expected primary settlement in the eld. Solution: Safe height of embankment over soft subsoil h, given by h CuN c 15 5:7 3 :8 m ; 18 1:25 gF Assuming the factor of safety F 1:25.

Ultimate primary settlement after rst stage loading of 3.8 m.   H s0 Ds C c log10 11 S 1 e0 s0   10 25:95 68:4 0:8 log10 1 2 :1 25:95 1:447 m: Settlement at inection point is 1.447 0.651 0.942 m. Net height of the embankment raised is 3.80.942 2.858 m. Step 5: Height of embankment for second-stage loading The rst stage embankment construction stress is 3.8 18 68.4 kN/m2. Therefore, gain in undrained strength, Cu at 90% consolidation 0.25 3.8 18 17.13 kN/m2 (Nicholson and Jardine, 1981) Corresponding gain in strength, at 65.1% degree of consolidation is 17.13 0.651 11.15 kN/m2. Total undrained strength of subsoil 15+11.15 26.15 kN/m2. Safe height for the second-stage embankment construction is equal to h C u N c 26:15 5:7 6:62 m: 18 1:25 gF

So the embankment may be constructed upto a height of 3.8 m, as rst stage loading. Step 1: Equivalent diameter of band drain, d 2(b+tb)/ p 0.066 m, effective drain spacing De 1.13 2 2.26 m, drain spacing ratio n De/d 2.26/0.066 34.24, from the given values, H 10 m, n, Cr/Cv 3, the degree of consolidation at inection point is estimated from Fig. 3c as Ui 65.1%. Step 2: Based on H 10 m, Cr/Cv 3, and n 34.24, Mtheoretical versus Tr is plotted as shown in Fig. 13. The inection point corresponds to coordinate (0.50, 0.80). The radial time factor Tr corresponding to the inection point is thus estimated as 0.50. Step 3: Based on, De 2.26 m, Tr 0.50 and Cr 3 m2/ year and using the equation Tr C r tw . De 2

The height of second-stage loading could be arrived by trial and error process as given below: (1) Iteration 1 Let the second-stage loading of embankment is say 2.5 m for rst iteration. Total height of combined rstand second-stage loading is 2.858+2.5 5.358 mo 6.62 m. The ultimate total primary settlement for rststage and second-stage construction (total height 5.358 m) using Eq. (11) is 1.738 m. Net height of embankment 5.3581.738+0.942 4.562 mo5 m (required height), hence safe. (2) Iteration 2 Now second-stage loading of embankment is say 3 m for second iteration. Total height of combined rst- and

Waiting periods (tw) for rst stage construction is tw Tr(De)2/Cr 0.50 (2.26)2/3 0.85 years 310 days Step 4: Settlement at inection point after rst stage loading

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second-stage loading is 2.858+3 5.858 mo6.62 m. The ultimate total primary settlement for rst-stage and second-stage construction (total height 5.858 m) using Eq. (11) is 1.817 m. Net height of embankment 5.8581.817+0.942 4.98 mo5 m (required height), hence safe. The iteration process would give the exact height of second-stage loading to be 3.02 m to achieve the total height of embankment to be 5 m. As there would be no signicant change in Cr/Cv ratio of the subsoil after the second-stage loading, waiting period for the second-stage loading may also be kept as 310 days. 9. Conclusions The inection point method developed by Cour (1971) for vertical drainage has been extended to estimate the degree of consolidation at inection point for a threedimensional drainage where PVDs are adopted for subsoil improvement. The estimated value has been compared with the degree of consolidation at inection point evaluated from actual eld settlement data of a case history at two different sites. The expected total primary settlement from the inection point method has been compared with that predicted from Asaoka method. Field application of inection point method has also been discussed. Conclusions are summarized as follows; (1) Theoretical graphs have been prepared which can estimate the percent consolidation at inection point (% Ui) for different thicknesses of subsoil, specic size of PVD, different Cr/Cv ratios, considering smear, well resistance and drain spacing factors. The percent degree of consolidation at inection point for 5 m thick depth of soft subsoil is estimated to be in the range of 6278% whereas for thicknesses in the range of 1020 m the values ranged between 61% and 66%. (2) The percent degree of consolidation at inection point method (% Ui) estimated from theoretical graphs for a specic eld problem was observed to be comparable to that estimated from the actual eld settlement data. But the method needs to be approved to settlement data for more sites to authenticate the values obtained from the theoretical approach. (3) The total expected primary settlement determined from inection point method over estimates that obtained from compressibility characteristics by 58%. The Asaoka method underestimates this value by 810%. (4) The method is quite useful during stage construction of embankment on thick deposits of soft soil. The waiting period for each stage corresponding to degree of consolidation at inection point (% Ui) can be estimated. The method provides an alternative to existing methods for determination of degree of consolidation of instrumented sections.

Acknowledgment The kind approval of Director, CRRI, New Delhi, India 110020, to publish the research paper is acknowledged. References
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